Computer

FEATURED ARTICLES ABOUT COMPUTER - PAGE 3

SHEPHERDSTOWN, W.VA. -- Shepherd University has witnessed record-breaking enrollment in recent years. Now the professors behind a new computer engineering program at Shepherd believe the school will grow even faster. Shepherd's entry into the new study area comes at a time of significant demand for computer engineers. The U.S. Department of Labor projects a 10 percent to 20 percent growth in demand for computer engineers by 2014, according to Shepherd officials. Seung-yun Kim, an assistant professor involved in the new four-year degree program, said he recently did an Internet search and discovered there were 200 computer engineering jobs available within a 60-mile radius of Shepherdstown.

andrear@herald-mail.com That free music download could cost you your privacy - maybe even your identity. Spyware hidden in shared music files, attachments to e-mail and instant messages, free game downloads, Internet pop-up ads and other applications secretly gathers user information and activity without the user's knowledge. "The free software out there comes with a risk. It isn't free," Internet security software expert Jim Murphy said. Spyware and other kinds of malware - malicious software - are engineered to damage your machine or interrupt the normal computing environment, according to the Spyware-Guide Web site at www.spyware-guide.

Shepherd University hosted NASA Day on April 11. Several students received fellowships from the West Virginia Space Grant Undergraduate Fellowship Program and presented their research. The recipients include: • Matt Alt, a computer engineering major from Baker, W.Va. • Jessica Cain, a biology major from Inwood, W.Va. • David Chelf, a mathematics major from Inwood • Kelsey Fry, a secondary education major from Kearneysville, W.Va. • Rebecca Furby, a chemistry major from Charles Town, W.Va.

GREENCASTLE, PA. waynesboro@herald-mail A 38-year-old Loudoun County, Va., woman who was murdered in her home last week was active in sports when she attended Greencastle-Antrim High School, the school principal said Monday. Karen M. Etter Ludwig was found dead of multiple gunshot wounds Wednesday in an upstairs bedroom of her home in the 42800 block of Hollywood Park Place in Ashburn, Va., according to the Loudoun County Sheriff's Office. Her husband, John W. Ludwig, 51, a 17-year veteran with the U.S. Marshals Detective Service, has been charged with first-degree murder.

A Hagerstown man has been charged after he told police he has probably downloaded about 1,000 child pornography files on a computer, according to Washington County District Court records. John Stephen Sekula III, 20, of 11520 Selema Drive, Apt. 2, was charged Jan. 16 with possession of child pornography and with promoting/distributing child pornography, according to court records. Sekula was released Jan. 21 on $1,000 bond. Using a certain type of computer software, Cpl. John H. Linton of the Maryland State Police said he was able to browse the suspect's "shared file directory" and found a movie of an adult male engaging in a sex act with a prepubescent child, according to court records.

By KERRY LYNN FRALEY Staff Writer Blaine Nye looks at the Washington County Career Studies Center's new advanced computer applications program as a building block for his high-tech future. "I figured it would give me a head start on my career of choice," said Nye, 17, who plans to become a computer scientist. A senior, Nye will get to complete only the first part of the two-year program before he graduates. Still, he said it's proving helpful in bridging the gaps in his computer knowledge, gleaned mostly by working on his home computer.

Five people who allegedly used a computer to place prank 911 calls have been charged, according to Hagerstown Assistant Fire Marshal Richard L. Miller. Daniel Lucas, 19, of 32 Madison Ave. in Hagerstown; Clinton Morningstar, 21, of 819 Washington St. in Hagerstown; Kenny Uhler, 19, of 402 Mitchell Ave. Apt. B in Hagerstown; and two 17-year-old boys from Hagerstown each were charged with one count of making a false alarm and conspiring to make a report of a false alarm, Miller said Thursday.

Gateway planning to open store here By LAURA ERNDE / Staff Writer HALFWAY - Gateway computer company plans to open a store at Crosspoint shopping center near Valley Mall this summer. The 5,000-square-foot store will be the young shopping center's third tenant, said Chris Bell, president of Greencastle Development in Annapolis, Md. Target opened its 104,000-square-foot store at Crosspoint in March 1999, Bell said. The other tenant is Michaels craft store with 24,000 square feet.

CHARLES TOWN, W.Va. - Seventeen-year-old Lakota Demers worked to insert a floppy drive in a computer in a class at Washington High School on Wednesday and he talked about working in the computer programming field some day. Meredith Douthett sat in a darkened room with about 10 students in another classroom where they learned about how to build their own Web sites. Examples of the work were projected onto a screen as teacher Laura Borkholder talked. In a studio where JCS Television programs are made, students worked with computerized production equipment.

by Richard T. Meagher / staff photographer see the enlargement WAYNESBORO, Pa. - National newspapers, trade magazines and even Money magazine have written about computer-savvy Michael J. Cermak Jr., known to thousands of users as the Tech Support Guy. Cermak, 16, a Waynesboro Area Senior High School student, is making a name for himself on the Internet by offering free technical advice to computer users....